Tisbury, Wiltshire, England
Tisbury is a large village and civil parish approximately 13 miles (21 km) west of Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is a centre for communities around the upper River Nadder and Vale of Wardour. The parish includes the hamlets of Upper Chicksgrove and Wardour. Tisbury is the largest settlement within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (larger nearby settlements such as Salisbury and Shaftesbury are just outside it). It is the location of Black Manor, a large "handsome manor house" surrounded by elaborate gardens, including a fountain. Black Manor was home to the infamous Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, once upon a time. History There are known early references between 710 and 716 to Wintra, Abbot of Tisbury, and in 759 monks of Tisbury are mentioned in a grant of land to Abbot Ecgnold and his familia (community) at Tisbury Minster. The monastery may have been founded as early as 705 and may have been sited near an old cemetery discovered north of Church Street. The Saxon settlement came into the possession of Shaftesbury Abbey, across the county border, in Dorset. The administration centre was the monastic grange, still called Abbey Grange Place Farm. Its thatched tithe barn – one of its timbers dated by dendrochronology to 1279 – and a Grade I listed building, bears the largest thatched roof in England. It is now used as a multi-purpose gallery and arts centre, managed by Messums Wiltshire. The old Black Manor lies approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the southwest of Tisbury. Some idea of the population of the area in the 14th century is given by the number assessed as being liable to the poll tax of 1377: every lay person over the age of 14 years who was not a beggar had to pay a groat (4d) to the Crown. The number of taxpayers in Hatch, East and West (in Tisbury) was 152, and in Tisbury there were 281. The village's 13th-century prosperity came from the quarries that produced stone for the building of Salisbury Cathedral, and from the wool that supported a local cloth industry. The village suffered a serious setback with the Black Death in the mid-14th century but slowly recovered. To the southwest of the village centre are the remains of the village of Wyck, a deserted medieval village abandoned some time in the 14th century. Notable People Several lords of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black were born in Tisbury. They are: * Aquilinus Black, 19 Apr 1630 - 11 Nov 1700 * Cepheus Black II, 14 Sep 1657 - 11 Apr 1719 * Ophiuchus Black, 9 Mar 1714 - 28 Feb 1775 * Betelgeuse Black, 14 Nov 1740 - 19 Jun 1799 * Cygnus Black I, 3 Jun 1770 - 24 Dec 1853 * Cygnus Black II, 13 Jan 1810 - 7 Jul 1859 As well as Phineas Nigellus Black, who became the most-hated Headmaster of Hogwarts known to date. * Phineas Nigellus Black, 18 Oct 1847 - 10 Jun 1925 Category:Villages Category:Wiltshire